To Cast Away Stones
by kirksgreenshirt
Summary: AU. At the end of TUF, Jacen arrives too late to save his uncle from the amphistaff's poison.
1. Chapter 1

Luke's labored breathing echoed in Mara's ears, each shallow, ragged set of inhalations and exhalations following the last until it seemed to her the heartbeat of the universe, slow and painful but never-ending. Until it ended.

In an instant that lasted a million years or a picosecond he was gone, fading into sudden emptiness, the hilt of his lightsaber thudding down on the bunk beside his prosthetic hand, and her universe died with him. She stared down at the crumpled pile of robes and bacta-bandages, a sob welling up in her throat. He was gone. He was gone. They had won but he was gone.

The rasp of the hatch sounded behind her, and she heard Jacen's voice, blazing with hope and the righteous surety that he could fix the galaxy.

"Where's Uncle Luke?" he demanded. "I can heal the poison," he said, and Mara nearly laughed from the cruel irony of everything.

"You're too late," she heard herself say, voice hoarse from tears. Leia ran into the room, Han hot on her heels, and saw Mara kneeling beside the bunk clutching Luke's filthy brown cloak.

"Too late," she repeated, and Han had to catch Leia's arm to keep her from collapsing at the words.

Mara did laugh then, laughed in defiance of death as she was cast away, all of them cast away, stones falling far and wide to the unforgiving earth with the destruction of their mountain. The pain consumed her, anger burning in her like the venom of another amphistaff – _kill them kill them kill them all_ – but all too quickly, it was gone, leaving behind a void, not the size of the universe, but the size of the man whom she would never see again.

The man she loved.


	2. Chapter 2

"I was thinking I might go away for a while."

Her brother's voice cut through Jaina's musings with all the sharpness of a vibroblade as she turned to face him.

"What?"

"I said," Jacen repeated with an air of strained patience, "that I was thinking of going away for a while."

"Why?" Jacen settled down on a rock beside her, long legs sprawling out in the dust, and Jaina sighed. It was shaping up to be one of _those_ days.

Her twin shifted nervously.

"I – I just need to get away," he muttered. "Find some stuff out, y'know what I mean?"

"No, I kriffin' don't!" Jacen stared at her, eyes wide, as she got to her feet and leaned over him, hard brown eyes boring into his skull.

"I don't know how you can stand there with your powers and your promises and all those crazy idealistic notions you've always had and say you're gonna leave!"

"Jaina, I – I just…" His protests trailed away into silence, broken by Jaina's voice again.

"Jasa," she said softly, his childhood nickname bringing back memories of a time, not long ago, when they were innocent. "Jasa, they need you. Mara needs you, and little Ben."

"What makes you think they need me?" he whispered, almost to himself. "She blames me, y'know. She really does."

"Don't be ridiculous," Jaina snapped. "She blames everybody. She's angry at him for dying and herself for letting him. She knows you did everything you could." Jaina winced as she spoke, for she could hear the insincerity behind her words – the same false comfort everyone had been giving Jacen recently. And she knew her brother had picked up on it.

"I was too late," he said, his tone flat and purged of all emotion. "I was too late, and he died. You know it, I know it, so let's be honest here, shall we?"

"Stars damn it, Jacen Solo, this isn't about you!" Her brother drew back from her sudden vehemence as Jaina continued. "Sure, you messed up, and -" Jaina stopped, her throat threatening to choke up as her vision blurred with sudden tears, and then continued. "And Uncle Luke is dead. But now you're just sitting here wallowing in self-pity instead of actually trying to help someone!"

Jacen sat speechless as she continued.

"Aunt Mara's a wreck right now. She's going through the motions, but anyone can see she's been hit hard. Mom and Dad are screwed up by this too – hells, our whole kriffin' family is screwed up by this. Master Medjev has been helping look after Ben, thank the Force, but we really can't ask him to do any more. And instead of tryin' to figure out a way to help, you're talking about _leaving_. So I feel justified to tell you that if you don't get your selfish ass off that rock and go look after Ben for a while, then you deserve to be blamed."

Jaina looked her brother in the eyes through a haze of tears, bright tracks on his cheeks mirroring her own. Slowly, gaze locked on her face, resentful and guilty and somehow betrayed, Jacen got to his feet and trudged away.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! Here it is: Chapter 3! **  
**By the way, if you have never read Saba before, that's just how she talks. =D**

* * *

Cal Omas, Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance, reached out and pushed a button on the holocomm board. It flickered to life, showing a shimmering blue image of a young human woman.

"Jedi Order."

"Ah, yes. This is Chief of State Omas."

"Of course. What can I do for you, sir?"

"I would like to speak to Master Skywalker." The woman frowned.

"I'm sorry, but Master Skywalker is unavailable due to family crisis. You may, however, speak to -"

"Please give my condolences to Master Skywalker, but I need to speak to him immediately to discuss possible Jedi involvement in treaty negotiations." A look of confusion passed across the woman's face.

"Sir, this is a trying time for us all, and especially so for Master Skywalker. She is seeking the comfort of her family, and I feel it unwise to disturb her."

Omas stared.

"Maybe you didn't hear me correctly," he stated, deliberately enunciating each syllable as his diplomatic patience was strained near to breaking. "This is _Chief of State_ Omas wishing to speak to Luke Skywalker to -"

The woman on the comm laughed.

"That, Chief," she said quietly, her voice tinged with sorrow, "would take a miracle." Cal stumbled back in shock.

"W-what are you saying?"

"Luke Skywalker is dead." Omas collapsed in his chair, barely able to process her words.

"D-dead?" he gasped.

The woman nodded sympathetically.

"Dead."

"How?"

"I think it best if you discuss such matters with a Master."

"Then get one!" The woman's face disappeared from the holo-field, reappearing a moment later along with the dark-scaled, reptilian visage of Master Saba Sebatyne.

"Ah, Saba," Cal said as the woman left again. "So good to see you again, even in such trying times."

"Mazter Zhkywalker'z death has been hard on usz all," Sebatyne admitted, "but the war isz over. Thisz one celebratez."

Omas nodded, recalling that the Barabel culture did not possess a concept of grief, at least not in the way humans understood it. No doubt this was why she had been chosen to speak with him. Cal paused, framing his words.

"Master Sebatyne," he began carefully, "I am sorry to disturb the mourning of the Jedi, or to cheapen Master Skywalker's memory by prying, but I must know – is Shimrra dead?"

Saba sissed in obvious amusement.

"Of coursz. Mazter Zhkywalker wasz never one to leave anything unfinished."

"Then the war is over."

"Yesz." Omas sighed in relief. It was really over. The Vong were defeated after so long.

"Five years," he said softly, and it was only Saba's curious gaze that told him he had spoken aloud.

"Yesz," she replied. "It wasz a long hunt."

"We won, though." Saba sissed again.

"No one winz in war, Chief Omasz." Cal smiled. The saying had been a favorite of the late, great Admiral Ackbar.

"Then at least we lost less than they did." Both were silent for a moment, remembering.

Cal shook off the somber mood, turning back to business.

"Given the circumstances," he continued, "I am sorry to have to bother you, but both Kre'fey and the rest of the Advisory Council have requested the assistance of the Jedi in negotiations for the peace treaty. It is understandable, of course, if you feel unable to send anyone, but -"

"Of coursz we will send a represzentative," Saba interjected. "Thisz one will speak to the Council."

"Thank you. And of course, arrangements must be made concerning Master Skywalker's funeral…"

"Such arrangementz concern the Jedi, Chief Omasz, not you."

"Master Skywalker was a hero of the Alliance, Master Sebatyne. The people want to pay their respects."

"So doesz hisz family."

"Master Skywalker died saving us from the Vong. He should be given a state funeral, where the people can express their gratitude. I will send a ship to Zonama to bring his body to Denon."

Saba sissed wildly at his statement.

"There isz no body, Chief Omasz. Do you forget? We are _Jedi_."

Cal stared at her before remembering that one trait of Jedi (a trait he had always found a little creepy, to be honest) was that their bodies disappeared at the instant of death.

"Still, there should be some public event, don't you agree?"

"Thisz one thinksz a funeral would make for sadnesz, not celebrating."

"Still, it is important to honor a hero."

"Mazter Zhkywalker wasz not the only hero of thisz war."

"Perhaps the greatest, though."

"Perhapsz."

They sat in silence, light-years apart, a human and a Barabel, both straining under the weight of countless burdens and responsibilities and the watching eyes of a galaxy, both still reeling from the terrible, innumerable losses of a seemingly endless war.

Both still struggling on.

There was a moment's silence before Omas reached out to shut off the comm, both parties turning away, other calls to make, other beings to implore or reassure, the crushing load of tasks to complete and arrangements to make that heralded the beginning of peacetime, and concerns for a dead man and a hero were shoved aside to make room for the bureaucratic humdrum that was the constant companion of government, now more than ever.

But even dead, such men were never quite forgotten.


	4. Chapter 4

**Many thanks to my incredible beta passon, and to everyone reading this. Sorry this chapter is so short!**

* * *

"I saw him shaking, Leia," Mara whispered.

She was slumped over the battered wooden table in her quarters on Zonama Sekot, her head in her hands as the whole horrendous tale poured out.

"I saw blood bubbling on his lips as the poison ate him from the inside out. I saw him when the shaking stopped, and he was so still, and he opened his eyes…"

"Mara…"

"He opened his eyes, and he didn't know me."

"Mara, I'm sure he…"

"You weren't there, Leia. Don't try to tell me what happened because _you weren't there_." Mara grabbed her sister-in-law's wrists with fingers like claws, and Leia jerked back, startled by the desperation burning in those emerald eyes.

"He didn't know me," she continued. "He was afraid and in pain and he didn't recognize me. _Me_. His _wife_." Mara was sobbing now, eyes red-rimmed behind a tangled mat of fiery hair.

"He was like a child," she gasped through her tears. "A tiny, frightened child."

Leia only stared as Mara broke down completely, collapsing in Leia's arms.

"There, there," she murmured, hands moving along the bony planes and angles of Mara's back in the automatic motions two decades of comforting children had ingrained in her subconscious, drying her sister-in-law's tears even as her own flowed all the more freely.

"It's all right." Mara's reaction to her words came so fast she doubted even Mara herself anticipated it. Mara's body stiffened as she pulled away from Leia, ragged pain and exhaustion visible on her face.

"No," she growled, and the ferocious anger in her voice scared Leia for an instant. "No it's not all right, and it kriffin' well never will be!"

Leia stood, towering over the weeping form hunched in the chair.

"You think it's all about you," she said, her tone almost conversational. "Mara Jade, poor grieving widow. Well it's not all you! You aren't the only one that's hurting, and you're sitting here decaying in misery in a house that looks like a sty while your son – _Luke's_ son – is being cared for by strangers!"

"You. Know. _Nothing!_" Mara bit out, rising to her feet. "You weren't _there_ when he was _dying_, you weren't there for your own _brother_. What kind of self-important heartless _kutza_ are you anyway to come here and tell _me_ what to do?"

Leia's voice, when it came, chilled even her to the core. Smooth, perfectly controlled despite the tears that still trickled down her cheeks, Leia knew she sounded every inch the infamous Ice Princess of the Rebellion, the girl – now woman – who could watch her planet be destroyed and yet come down from the Death Star without a single streak of salt on that frozen shell.

She didn't care.

"You never deserved him," she said, her words a barrage of blasterfire smashing against Mara's shields. "You never deserved him," she repeated, firing her last shot with devastating precision before stalking out the door:

"Emperor's Hand."


	5. Chapter 5

_****_**AN: It's been a long wait for the ending of this story, something for which I'm very sorry. Thank you to everyone who's been on this wild ride with me. It didn't turn out like I expected, but sometimes it's good to go with the flow. This is it, guys. Enjoy.  
**

**Disclaimer: Un-betaed. All mistakes are mine.  
**

* * *

_Six weeks later, on Ossus_**  
**

_**Luke Skywalker**_, the inscription read. _**Husband. Father. Brother. Teacher. Friend.**_

Mara wiped a tear from her cheek and tried her best to smile.

"So, um, welcome," said Wedge, standing at the hastily-erected podium on a hill on Ossus. "As you know, I'm here to speak to you today about Luke Skywalker, a man many of you knew very well. I know I speak for everyone assembled when I say we're going to miss him a lot." This was met with murmured assent from the crowd, a mix of GA military officers and Jedi students.

"I knew Luke about as well as anyone could," Wedge continued, "except for Mara, of course. I served as his XO in Rogue Squad for, well, ages, and if there's one thing I could say about Luke it's that he never gave up. He didn't give up on missions, no matter what happened, no matter how injured he was, but more importantly he never gave up on people. Mara Jade, over there? When he first met her she wanted to kill him more than she wanted anything. Ten years later, they got married. I'm sure you've all heard about Vader, of course; personally, I would've killed him first chance I got." He paused, swallowed. "Luke believed in Vader, and now the Emperor's dead."

"All of you – Jedi, military, civilians, whatever - are standing here today because Luke Skywalker didn't give up."

"Shimrra's dead, as I'm sure you've heard. We beat 'em again, huh?" Laughter now, and cheering. Mara smiled with them.

"And, well, Luke wouldn't have wanted us to be sad. He would have said – in fact, I know exactly what he would have said!" Wedge extracted a piece of wrinkled flimsiplast from his pocket.

"Hello all," he began. "I guess I'm dead. I suppose Wedge is reading this at my funeral, unless he's dead too. Of course, if Wedge is dead then the whole squad probably got vaped as well, so nobody would know to read this." Wedge cleared his throat.

"I hope we beat whatever Imp rats killed me, and that I was the only one to die. Tell… tell Leia I love her, and tell Han that the _Falcon_ is the biggest hunk of junk in the galaxy." Wedge smiled.

"My apologies to Admiral Pellaeon for some of those remarks. Luke wrote this thirty years ago, and circumstances have changed since. I think, however, that the general idea is the same." Wedge paused to wipe at his eyes.

"Leia asked me to do this because she said she was going to cry. I told her I would too. Guess I was right."

"Luke, we won. We beat 'em in the end, and Mara and Ben are fine, and… and we miss you, but we're okay. It's all okay." He bent his head, silent for a long moment.

"Peace be with you, Luke, you dirty womp rat. I'm gonna miss you."

* * *

Wedge rested his hand on Mara's shoulder in a gesture of quiet comfort.

"You all right?"

"Yeah." To her surprise, she found she was telling the truth.

**_~fin~_**


End file.
